Monday, June 20, 2016

The Iron Gates of the Danube

What you don't know won't hurt you unless you wake up and see it happening.....

So at 2:30 am and Beth was awakened with a bright light shinning in her face. Here we were at the Iron Gate Lock II moving toward the beginning of a series of locks. Beth immediately woke Becky so she could enjoy the experience..Holy Cow!!

Once though the Lock, we entered a large lake and continued on until day break when we hit Iron Gate Lock I - Djerdap 1 Lock. (Passed thru lock 2 during previous night, about 2:30 am. Yes, we saw it because the lights from the power plant shone brightly into our windows.)

Passing thru Lock I we rose 100 feet to continue on into the Danube River toward Serbia. It took us about 2 hours to go through the Lock. We know we have moved into the winding winding part of the Danube....Romania on the right above the river and Serbia on the left.The Kazan Gorge is one of the more narrow sections of the River. The fiords were beautiful and the granite rocks were outstanding.

Decebalus Statue -- largest stone carving in Europe (132 Ft)Paid for by a fan of the ruler represented.Not as old as you might think -- carved btwn 1994 and 2004The curious can learn more here